ANOTHER LOOK AT THE DETERRENT EFFECT OF DEATH PENALTY

  • Jongmook CHOE The University of Texas at Austin, Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs

Abstract

There is a question whether the execution rate is appropriate to examine the deterrent effect of death penalty. Instead of using execution rate, this paper uses dummy variables to categorize states into different groups and to compare the group mean homicide rates. With US state-level panel data for the period 1995 – 2006, this paper fails to find a significant homicide-reducing effect of death penalty.

References

[1] Blundell, R., Bond, S. 1998. Initial conditions and moment restrictions in dynamic panel-data models. Journal of Econometrics 87: 115-143.
[2] Dezhbakhsh, H., Rubin, P.H., Shepherd, J.M. 2003. Does Capital Punishment Have a Deterrent Effect? New Evidence from Postmoratorium Panel Data. American Law and Economics Review 5(2):344-376.
[3] Donohue, J., Wolfers J. 2005. Uses and Abuses of Empirical Evidence in The Death Penalty Debate. Stanford Law Review 58: 791-845.
[4] Katz, L., Levitt, S.D., Shustorovich, E. 2003. Prison Conditions, Capital Punishment, and Deterrence. American Law and Economics Review 5(2):318-343.
[5] Mocan, H.N, Gittings, R.K. 2003. Getting Off Death Row: Commuted Sentences and the Deterrent Effect of Capital Punishment. Journal of Law and Economics 46(2):453-478.
[6] Mocan, H.N., Gittings, R.K. 2006. The Impact of Incentives on Human Behavior: Can We Make it Disappear? The Case of the Death Penalty. NBER Working Paper 12631.
[7] Plümper, T., Troeger, V. 2007. Efficient Estimation of Time-Invariant and Rarely Changing Variables in Finite Sample Panel Analyses with Unit Fixed Effects. Political Analysis Vol. 15:2, 124-139.
[8] Zimmerman, P.R. 2004. State Executions, Deterrence, and the Incidence of Murder, Journal of Applied Economics 7(1):163-193.
Published
2016-11-28
How to Cite
CHOE, Jongmook. ANOTHER LOOK AT THE DETERRENT EFFECT OF DEATH PENALTY. Journal of Advanced Research in Law and Economics, [S.l.], v. 1, n. 1, p. 12-15, nov. 2016. ISSN 2068-696X. Available at: <https://journals.aserspublishing.eu/jarle/article/view/489>. Date accessed: 27 apr. 2024.
Section
Journal of Advanced Research in Law and Economics

Keywords

death penalty, execution, homicide, deterrence, Dummy Variable